Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-12-30

leave me then, and escape from the district
by the early workmen's traina II he did, l
would have the police on his track before the
sun was fairly above the horizon! Heshould
be locked up this very morning-locked up
for a dangerous was if he were not
a. Oh, how the cold bony hand clutched
my armi
We were drawing near the road.
The railway on our right now ran through
deep cutting. The path we followed led IN
ward from the edge Of the embankment A
hedge took the place Of the fence as right
hand inclosure of the path, and between
hedge and fence there was entrance to
wedge shaped grassy slope.
As we approached the entrance to the slope
between hedge and fence, bore somewhat to
the left of the path, hoping my companion
would notice no break to the right. In my
over anxiety to keep to the path must have
palpably pushed up against my companion,
for his right hand clasping still more tightly
my arm, and his left diving once more be-
meath his cloak-
"Foolln he hoarsely muttered. $50 you
still desire to tread again the paths Of mani
We shall see to that ere long. Meanwhile
come my way
Resistance was madness; but, as yielded,
the last ray Of hope of deliverance went out
in my heart Abandoning myself to knew
not what, I suffered myself to be led from the
path of comparative safety and probable sue
cor. In the power of this monster, bent on
heaven knew what, might as well be in the
heart of an African jungle as in the lonely
hollow at the base of this old bridge A
terrible calm came over me, like that which
l had read of experienced by men in the
clutches OF some wild beast Surely here was
no distant analogy
As we descended the grassy slope, and my
companion chose as if by instinct the easy
downward path into the hollow, the deep
sepulchral voice that had uttered few words
during the latter part OF our walk spoke in a
louder ton than before, but still with the
same clear, penetrating emphasis.
''The pit before US is opportune Come,
get you down, young man. Here we shall
have no interruption, and / have much to
say to you-before o'clockP
We stood in what indeed was little short Of
a pit
Eyes, we are safe from interruption here, =
continued my tormentor. Now do as bid
you, and, remember, at the smallest deyia-
ton from my command your life is forfeited
before its timei You see that star over
beadrr pointing upward, sit is the North
star. Fix your eyes on the North star, and
do not remove them until tell you"
bowed assent, for fear clogged my tongue
and, raising my head, made desperate eff
fort to look steadily at the star
He continued speaking
"You visited the theatre known as the
Lyceum last evening. You sat at the left
hand end of the first row in the pit. / sat
within few yards of you, in the last box on
the lowest tier
/ kept my eyes fixed steadily on the star.
But started as | gazed upward. l dimly
remembered having seen once or twice be
tween the acts a solitary, dark, gloomy face
in the box nearest me, which, whenever
had noticed it, seemed to be regarding me
earnestly. So wrapped up had been in the
play, that, though l now remembered The
searching scrutiny of my face by the darl
eyes to the left, at the time had been prac
tically unconscious of it
YES watched you from the box farthes
from the stage, in the lowest tier of boxes OF
the left side of the house. l have occupied
that box many nights, very many nights,
be sighed YEARLY; but he added with deep
tremulous emphasis, Il have sat there, nigh
after night, in disguise; yes, in human
earthly disguise!'
His voice rose, and gathered more awful
1 Vii into tpifh
gazed upward still, but the star danced be
fore my vision like phosphorus in vessel
wake.
in the guise of man have I sat there
| In the garb of mortal n he almost shrek ed
Then, his voice lowering to deep, quivering
upearthly tones: Cast down your eyes,
child of man, and know me for what ami
/ threw up my arms and staggered bacl
ward What was this saw before met
A dark, haggard face, shining with a pal
green light. Arched eyebrows, hooked nos
cleaning teeth The tall, bending bod
clothed in black flowing robe. A dar
skull cap on the head Two long arm
stretched toward me; the bony hands an
fingers shining with the same green light tbs
Illuminated the face. Thin green smoke a
cending from face and hands,
What was this-vision or reality? Whei
was lin dreamland or in--helli
The grinning lips moved:
81 am-the Devil Know now with who
you are dealing; with the King Of Darkne:
the Evil One-Satan-the Devil-can n
what you will!n
Nj breath came in stertorous respiration
placed nv hand on my brow; M brow w,
| ntap I
damp grass was beneath it. l loeSed u
ward; the pale cold stars smiled mocking
upon me.
MOL was not dreaming.
All at once heard hurried footsaep
the narrew path above. 1t must be some b
lated wayfarer, some mortal who would he
me- I opened my mouth, but the long
clave to the palate Before could artic
late, flaming hand and cleaning blat
were upon my breast, and flaming face
foot from mine
tainted
When l recovered my senses, the satan
form was bending over me.
Come, comel l give you no further gra
to conquer this folly. If you cannot be cal
now, you die without further fuss. If "
choose to live little longer, stand up, 6
tend, and be sensible. Now, which is
to ber'
With a stupendous effort managed
rise to my feet and stagger to the wall of t
bridge, one strong bony hand grasping n
limp arm
"You elect to ive-a little longerg'
nodded feebly.
81 thought so. studied your face a,
head pretty closely with eyes and glass du
ing the evening. Your face is commonpla
enough, but it is wonderfully clear mir
of your mind. Your mental homage to-n
imitator was, for instance, plainly WRIT
on your face. Then / studied your hea
for, you see, you wear your hair closely C,
You are tenacious of life, and concentratiy
ness is very strongly developed. Is it not sc
Damp shining fingers passed carefully ov
the central surface of the back of my hes
Just as l thoughA Now IN combat,
ness" feeling behind the ear, ''you are {
fcientn
Ii there was comparison in my feelin
just then, I was glad when the cold fngs
were removed from my head
$50 you appreciated Mephistopheles-t
sham Mephistopheles, ehf Well, grant y
it is fine performance, wonderful mimic
for a mani have sat, in my guiss
mortal, and watched this mimicry of N
self many nights, very many nights It b
, pleased my fancy, it has lattered me-wi
the sincerest flattery. have over and oy
and over again watched carefullv the MIA